Excerpt from Gift From the Sea (1955) Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Excerpt from Gift From the Sea (1955) Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“The Beach is not the place to work; to read, write or think…The books remain unread, the pencils break their points, and the pads rest smooth and unblemished as the cloudless sky. No reading, no writing, no thoughts even – not at first.”

“One falls under their spell, relaxes, stretches out prone. One becomes, in fact, like the element on which one lies, flattened by the sea; bare, open, empty as the beach, erased by today’s tides of all yesterday’s scribblings.”

“Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift from the sea.”

I am a writer and an editor who grew up in the South. I love reading and learning, long nature walks, yoga, and the daily practice of living—from positive affirmations to the sometimes-thriving wheatgrass farm on my back porch.